Inside this conventionally structured biopic resides an extraordinary story of an extraordinary man. William Wilberforce was the parliamentary spokesman for a group of radicalised young Evangelists (and Quakers), who despised the money politics and corruption of late 18th Century UK politics and who fought for many reformist policies, the most notable of which was the one this film annotates, the abolition of slavery, a process that took years of political skulduggery and the slow passage of find out more...

London, 1818; the young Romantic poet John Keats begins an unlikely three year romance with chic urbanite neighbour Fanny, an affair cut short by his premature illness and death. A superbly made interpretation of love and its rendition through poetry. find out more...

The film focuses on Camille's time spent in an asylum after she is sent there by her brother, the poet Paul Claudel, who questions his sister's sanity when she destroys some of her own works. She lives a reclusive life trying to prove to her doctor that she is mentally stable while waiting in hope that her brother will visit and consent to her discharge from the institution. 

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Abandoned by her father and brought up in an orphanage Gabrielle Chanel's early years were not easy ones, but her willful determination, intelligence and obvious gift would see her ultimately rise to iconic status within the world of 20th Century fashion. 'Coco Before Chanel' never glamorises her life, neither the way she looks nor the lovers she takes; a thoughtful understated observation of Chanel's life before fortune finally beckoned. Not a visually sumptuous film, as you might expect, but a find out more...

Scooping almost all the Oscars in 1991, this epic film views the American Indians in a sympathetic light through the story of Lt John Dunbar, who volunteers for frontier duty. He discovers the Sioux tribe, an honourable and proud people living on the Dakota plains. Exquisitely filmed - it's a must. find out more...

The BFI continues its successful strand of Archive Television releases with Ken Russell's classic documentary Elgar, which was first shown in 1962 as the 100th programme in the BBC's Monitor series. This partly dramatised account of the life of composer Sir Edward Elgar includes footage of Elgar at the Three Choirs Festival and a recording of the opening of Abbey Road Studios when 'Land Of Hope And Glory' was played. find out more...

Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, Harriet tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

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Superb drama with a stunning performance from Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. Consumed with grief, after the death of Prince Albert, the arrival of John Brown, Albert's fiery former servant, shakes the Queen from her melancholy and gives her a new lease of life, but feathers are ruffled within the palace as a touching friendship develops tentatively between the two. As public feeling turns against the monarch, the pressure falls squarely on Brown's shoulders, turning the proud, strong Scotsman int find out more...

The title refers to the legatee of Ludwig Van's worldly goods, and the film is a kind of musical detective story that explores the life and loves of Beethoven, who may have been the 'immortal beloved'. Exhilarating musical set-pieces from the Violin Concerto and the Eroica, amongst others, score persuasive points for classical music. find out more...

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